I think that far enough in the future everyone will essentially be ageless cyborgs, if we’re around long enough. The cyborg part will have physical aspects, like perhaps replacing organs with more effecient artificial parts, but the real difference-maker will be direct-integration computers into the brain, making the first significant increase in human cognition since the development of language.

Hm, i think that these organs wont be some sort of fully mechanical metal parts but enhanced biological parts like bones which are made of durable minerals, red blood cells which can take more oxygen, or a heart made of more efficient muscles.

As for living for 300 years? What in the world would you do in all that time?

I know a lot of things i would like to do, and if i run out of these things iam sure ill find a lot of new things to do
Long time research would be a nice thing, acquiring tons of knowledge, and use that knowledge to change the world for the better, build a monumental building by myself, the way i like it, see mars, make experiences in all possible jobs,...

It sounds as if we are making progress in that direction. Yesterday, on public radio, they interviewed some people working on progeria, the premature aging of children. Very recently they were able to isolate a compound produced by these chiildren that caused cells to age. Then they were also able to synthesize a chemical that inhibited that compound. Apparently it’s made quite a difference in the boy who they’ve been treating it with. They also found that as we normals get older, we produce increasing amounts of this compound. So, it would seem that taking the inhibiting chemical would slow down our aging.

It sounds as if we are making progress in that direction. Yesterday, on public radio, they interviewed some people working on progeria, the premature aging of children. Very recently they were able to isolate a compound produced by these chiildren that caused cells to age. Then they were also able to synthesize a chemical that inhibited that compound. Apparently it’s made quite a difference in the boy who they’ve been treating it with. They also found that as we normals get older, we produce increasing amounts of this compound. So, it would seem that taking the inhibiting chemical would slow down our aging.

Occam

That’s really cool.

Take care,

Derek

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Well, my other prediction is right on track. I found the chemical they are giving the kids, went to the website of a supplier and looked up the price. For 100 100mg tablets, it was $2,760. At two a day, that’s $55.20 or $20,162 a year. As I had said earlier, only the wealthy will be able to afford longevity drugs.

Well, my other prediction is right on track. I found the chemical they are giving the kids, went to the website of a supplier and looked up the price. For 100 100mg tablets, it was $2,760. At two a day, that’s $55.20 or $20,162 a year. As I had said earlier, only the wealthy will be able to afford longevity drugs.

Occam

Doesn’t that pretty much echo most dystopian future predicting sci-fi?

Well, the ultra rich would have to preserve some of us non-rich folks. Hmm… Unless they had robots to do all the mundane stuff for them. In which case, I’ll be rooting for Skynet.

Nah, they don’t have to preserve any of us non-rich folks. In fact, they’d prefer that while they may 135 years old, that we be quite young and energetic to do all the skut work they have to have taken care of and not mature enough to question them.

As I had said earlier, only the wealthy will be able to afford longevity drugs.

Occam

Also, it’s possible that after a certain point a large group of the population may end up rejecting a lot of these kinds of advances on moral grounds. So, you’ll get three groups: the ageless rich cyborgs, the people who want to become ageless rich cyborgs, and the people who want nothing to do with either. Technology nowadays is far out-pacing morality, so it’s possible that this divide may become significant.

You’re watching too much Star Trek. Pop-sci-fi seems to have a fetish for making cyborgs mindless automatons, and they won’t be.

That’s horrifying, yes. But it disturbs me on a more fundamental level. The idea of replacing or augmenting our systems with artificial bits I find repellent and disturbing. It’s viscerally repulsive to me.

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